My biggest problem with this final run has been the plot – simply dragging Jack Bauer back into action, kicking and screaming, really just smacked of ‘I’m too old for this s**t’ and, at this point, so is the audience.

The whole season has just been a series of events designed to bring Jack to his knees, with the murder of Renee Walker being the latest devestating blow.

Now Bauer is on a rampage, feeling betrayed and in the mood for some bloodshed while Chloe, now director of CTU, gets agent Ortiz onside to stop/save him. Meanwhile, the peace treaty that President Taylor has been working on now hangs in the balance thanks to Dalia Hassan holding off until she gets some answers about her husband’s death.

And twiddling his moustache backstage is ex-President Logan who’s still so bad that we love him.

I won’t spoil it for anyone but as far as the plot goes, it’s pretty underwhelming. There’s nothing we haven’t seen before and it’s basically round 452 of Jack Bauer vs. the world. In terms of rounding out the character arcs and evolutions, Chloe O’Brian gets the most satisfying conclusion and things even get a little teary, but Jack is the exact same guy that he’s been for the past three seasons.

It’s not all bad though – there’s still a lot of tension and conspiracy based action that keeps the spirit of 24 alive. Perhaps the task of living up to past seasons and the pressure of a show finale was too much for the writers to handle, but they do the best they can.

In comparison to the finales of earlier seasons or ‘days’, it’s OK but as an overall ending for the entire show, it’s disappointing. It’s got more twists than a corkscrew and not in a good way, leading to the script totally forgetting about certain characters and giving unrealistic motives. Of course, the movie version of 24 hangs over the series like an ominous smoke monster and the writers have left the door open for that project, but based on this series, I’d say we’re done with Jack Bauer.

It’s an ultimately flawed finale but any fans that have stuck around for the past few seasons will probably be satisfied.